Not As Perfect As They Thought
by DatOneAsian
Summary: After the guild disbanded 24 year old Gray went off by himself to settle down. Juvia was then left to settle down on her own as well. Even after the guild is rebuilt and Fairy Tail is back on its feet, Gray is still nowhere to be found. But what happens when Juvia and Gray run into each other?
1. Reunion

**Gruvia story! Reviews are welcome and sorry if some parts of the story don't completely add up. I dont own Fairy Tail in anyway! All rights are reserved to Hiro Mashima!**

 **Enjoy!**

 **Backstory** :

After the guild disbanded 24 year old Gray went off by himself to settle down. Juvia was then left to settle down on her own as well. Even after the guild is rebuilt and Fairy Tail is back on its feet, Gray is still nowhere to be found. But what happens when Juvia and Gray run into each other?

 **Chapter One: Reunion**

Juvia was walking down the streets of Magnolia, back to her house, as she started to notice light snow falling from the sky. She looked up and smiled. But then she remembered a certain raven haired man and she frowned slightly. She missed him so much and she wondered why he never came back. For all she knew he was dead. 'Juvia must not think such things!' She scolded her self mentally.

Juvia kept walking as she looked back in fond memories of her precious Gray-sama. She recalled the way that he would always act so nonchalant but within seconds he would become a heated mess. She remembered the first time they used unison raid. She kept thinking back to memories of Gray as she looked up at the buildings near by.

Juvia stopped when she saw one of the houses. She sighed before taking in the details of the house. 'Gray-sama's old house...' She thought as she looked at every aspect of it. To her knowledge no one lived there. Now that she thought about it Juvia remembered that Gray never sold his house, he just left.

Juvia decided to keep walking as she bumped into a man. "Oh, Juvia's sorry!" She apologized and bowed at the man before walking again.

The man flinched at first. "It's fine." He said as he hurriedly walked off. Juvia paused before looking back. She knew that voice from somewhere. When she looked closer she saw that the man had dark hair, a light jacket, jeans and a gray scarf. 'That looks similar to the one Juvia made for Gray-sama...' Juvia began to frown again and her eyes glossed over as she deeply missed Gray.

Juvia was about to keep walking when she noticed that the man had unlocked and walking right into Gray's old house. 'But Juvia thought that Gray-sama never sold his house.' Juvia's eyebrows furrowed as she stood there for a while, confused. Then it dawned on her. "Gray-sama!" She almost shouted out as she quickly ran to the now close door of Gray's house.

She knocked three times and waited patiently for the door to open. She heard some movement coming from behind the door until it finally opened. The door boy opened a bit so that the man could get a good enough look without letting Juvia enough time to get inside the house.

"Crap!" The man tried to close the door but Juvia out her foot in front of it so it couldn't close.

"Gray-sama! It is you!" Juvia was absolutely thrilled that it truly was her Gray-sama. Gray however seemed scared, horrified and nervous.

Gray finally gave up on trying to close the door and finally opened it up all the way. He stood in the way of the doorway though as to keep Juvia where she was. "Juvia would like to talk to Gray-sama."

"W-why?" Gray asked nervously. It was a pathetic question but it's all he could come up with.

"Well after being gone for three years Juvia has a lot she wants to talk about with Gray-sama." Juvia said as she stared right at Gray, who was practically sweating.

"Yeah, of course... Sure, come in." Gray said as he moved away from the doorway to let Juvia in.

Juvia walked in to see everything surprisingly clean and organized, except a few stray shirts and pants. "Here, sit down." Gray said as he patted the couch as he sat down. Juvia sat in the spot Gray patted and just observed the house for a bit.

"S-so uh, what'd you want to talk about?" Gray asked, finally breaking the silence.

"Well, Juvia would like to know why Gray-sama left on his own." She said as she twiddled her thumbs around.

Gray sighed. He knew this would end up happening. "I left on my own because..."Gray paused for a moment. "Because I was lost and I didn't want to get anyone else involved in my problems. I'd just be a burden to others."

"Gray-sama isn't a burden!" Juvia out bursted before realizing that she said it so loudly. Gray looked at her with shock for a second before snapping out of it.

"Well I just needed some time by myself..." He said softly as he unintentionally stripped of his jacket and shirt, but not his scarf.

"Well why didn't Gray-sama return to Fairy Tail after it was rebuilt? He must have heard about it." Juvia asked as she stared at him, admiring his even more chiseled features.

Gray bit his lip when she asked why he didn't come back. Finally he opened his mouth to speak. "I..." He took a deep breath before spelling again. "I didn't think anyone would mind my absence..."

"Of course someone minded Gray-sama'd absence! The whole guild did!" Juvia said as she was in slight disbelief. "There must be a different reason!"

'Please don't make me say anything I'll regret... Please...' Gray thought as he tried to think do a way to put his reason into words that wouldn't be too revealing. "I couldn't deal with the" Gray paused. "Pain of coming back and knowing that I left everyone so suddenly... Knowing that I left you..." Gray said that last part instinctively but instantly realized his mistake. "I mean... Knowing that I-I left you and Natsu a-and Lucy without a p-proper farewell!" He quickly sputtered.

Juvia www slightly confused as to what Gray meant but she shook off his stuttering and the last part of what he said. "But why did Gray-sama not try to-" Juvia shivered as she felt a cold breeze and Gray instantly took notice.

"Hold on, let me get you a jacket." Gray said as he stood up and left the room to find a jacket for Juvia.

Meanwhile, Juvia stood up and walked around Gray's living room. She came to a pile of magazines, all Sorcerer Weekly magazines. But they were only magazines that mean ruined or featured Fairy Tail. Juvia opened on magazine to find that it was a swimsuit edition that Fairy Tail did for Sorcerer Weekly.

Juvia flipped through to understand that one corner was bent down. When she opened up the page it was none other than her, in a bikini on the beach. Juvia's eyebrows raised as her eye started to widen as well. 'Gray-sama marked the page Juvia was on!' She thought as she smiled widely.

Just then Gray walked into the room with a blue coat. He paused when he saw Juvia holding a magazine, one of his magazines. Gray dropped the coat and ran to where all of his magazines were and quickly grabbed the one Juvia was holding. He tucked them all away into a drawer and locked it. Gray then quickly walked back to where he dropped the coat and nervously walked over to Juvia.

"Uh Gray-sama, what was that?" She asked as she was slightly stunned.

Gray's face started to turn light pink as he quickly cleared his throat. "N-nothing, I just wanted to clear up the area of my mess." He smiled nervously before he put the coat around Juvia and rubbed Juvia's shoulder and arms instinctively before stopping and pulling his hands back to his sides. "So anyways, do you have anyone... Special?" Gray asked sheepishly as they sat down.

"No, Juvia doesn't have anyone special." She answers as she looked at Gray. "Does Gray-sama have anyone special?"

Gray didn't even bat an eye when he answered. "Yeah..."

"Oh..." Juvia couldn't hide the hurt in her voice or on her face when Gray answered. "Who is she?" Juvia had to at least know their name before she could start to move on.

"You already know her." Gray said calmly, looking away from Juvia.

"Juvia does?" Juvia asked. She was confused as to who it could be. It couldn't be someone from the guild, but those were they only people she knew.

"Yeah, you know her the best actually. But I'm not sure if she still feels the same for me." He looked right at Juvia as if waiting for something.

"Just ask her." Juvia said as she tried to sound calm and collected.

"That's all there is to it?" He asked, raising a brow.

"Simple as that." Juvia smiled and stared at Gray's figure again. He was still wearing his pants and that scarf. She then realized that he had still kept the scarf she made him even after breaking contact with everyone.

"Alright then..." Gray took a deep breath before looking straight into Juvia's eyes and taking one of her hands in his own. "Juvia, do you still like me?"

Juvia's eyes widened as she registered what was happening. "Of course Juvia still likes Gray-sama! She never stopped liking Gray-sama!" Juvia said happily as she smiled widely.

"Great." He smiled and put his hand on her cheek. He softly rubbed her cheek with his thumb before pulling her in towards himself. Juvia's eyes widened large and she almost squealed as Gray kissed her. But then she closed her eye and fell deep into the kiss.

Gray finally pulled out of their kiss and rested his forehead on Juvia's. "I'm sorry..." Gray's eyes started to water and he closed his eyes.

Juvia moved back and looked at Gray. "Why is Gray-sama sorry?" Juvia was confused as to why he would apologize for kissing her. It was such an amazing moment for her.

"Because..." Gray bit his lip. "I left for so long and I've been hiding this whole time." Gray wiped the tears that were clouding his eyes before they could drop.

Suddenly a question popped into Juvia's head. "Juvia is sorry to ask right now, but has Gray-sama been in his house this whole time?"

Gray smiled and chuckled lightly. "No, I just like to visit back here every once in a while. I actually live in a small village up north."

"Oh, maybe Gray-sama could take Juvia there sometime." Juvia proposed as she smiled and thought of a trip alone with Gray.


	2. Discovery

**Chapter Two: Discovery**

"Juvia, there's something I need to tell you." Gray said sternly, suddenly changing to a more serious tone.

"What is it?" Juvia tilted her head to the side.

"Juvia I can't stay here in Magnolia, not for long. I have someone back at the village that I can't leave alone for too long." Gray looked at Juvia, waiting for a response.

"But Gray-sama said that his special someone was Juvia." Juvia's face was slightly hurt and worried.

Gray chuckled lightly as he took Juvia's hand. "It's not a special someone, it's a student."

Juvia didn't know how to take in the information. It wasn't a love rival, it was a student. "Gray-sama has a student?"

"Yeah, he's a sweet kid. I found him huddled in a little cave one day and I started to take care of him. Then he said he wanted to learn ice magic, so I became his teacher." Gray's eyes softened and he smiled when he talked of his student.

"Doesn't the boy have parents though, wouldn't they want him home?" Juvia was confused.

"Juvia," Gray squeezed her hand a little tighter. "He's an orphan." Juvia's eyes widened a bit as she heard Gray's words. She started to remember a few old memories she had as an orphan and how she always longed for someone to take care of her, a parent figure.

Juvia smiled. "Gray-sama adopted him then?"

"Sort of, it's a similar situation that I was in." Juvia had forgotten that Gray was also an orphan, who was taken in by Ur.

"What's his name?" Juvia asked. She was fascinated by the new life that Gray had, even if she had missed it.

"His name is Storm. I guess he had strange parents too." Gray smiled with a fond look on his face. It was a look that Juvia never saw before he left, but it made Juvia smiled too.

"Gray-sama, could Juvia live with you?" Juvia asked spontaneously. It was fast but it was the first thing that popped into Juvia's head after taking in all of Gray's new information.

"Juvia I..." Gray didn't know what to say. After a a long moment of silence Gray finally came up with something to say. "I can't make you move all the way to a new village just to be with me."

"But Juvia wants to-"

"But..." Gray cut Juvia off causing her to stop and wait. "I'll move back to Magnolia. With Storm of course."

Juvia was ecstatic and filled with glee. "Gray-sama would really do that for Juvia!" Gray nodded and hugged Juvia.

"I'd do anything for you." Gray whispered into her hair. Juvia pulled away from Gray, dispersing their hug. She noticed again that Gray was still wearing the scarf she gave him years ago.

"Does Gray-sama wear that scarf often?" Juvia asked as she pointed to the scarf Gray was wearing.

Gray looked down at his scarf and smiled. "Maybe..." He said ambiguously. Juvia pouted and kept asking how often he wore it. Gray continued to tease Juvia about it until she was practically chasing him. Gray tripped as he tried to back away and fell onto his back. Juvia then tripped on Gray and landed on top of him.

"Eep!" Juvia landed so that he head was on top of her hands, which were placed on Gray's bare chest. Their bodies laid perfectly on top of each other.

"Uh, sorry." Gray said as he tried to lean up, which caused Juvia to move up as well. Their faces were just inches apart from each other and they just stared at each other for a while. Gray then moved his head so that his lips met perfectly with Juvia's. He just couldn't help it. After three years of missing her and longing to be with her, he finally had the chance.

They separated their lips for a second to breath before Gray rolled over, now on top of Juvia. They kissed again and they both wished that they could last forever like that. When they finally separated Gray rolled onto his back and off of Juvia. They held hands as they laid on Gray's floor.

"I have to leave, Storm's waiting for me." Gray said, breaking the silence. "I should be back in a day or two." Gray sat up.

"What if Juvia went with Gray-sama?" Juvia said as she too sat up.

"You want to go with me?" Gray raised a brow as he looked at Juvia.

"Of course Juvia does!" Juvia smiled at Gray and stood up. Gray then stood up too and walked over to where his shirt went. He put it on and then grabbed his coat.

"We better get going then." Gray smiled and extended a hand to Juvia, who gladly took it.

Gray stepped out of the carriage and then held out a hand for Juvia. Once Juvia had exited the carriage she looked around in awe. The landscape was beautiful in Gray's village. As Juvia took a few steps forward Gray stood still and smiled as he watched her.

"Gray!" A young boy ran out of a house and ran right into Gray.

"Hey Storm." Gray said happily as he lifted Storm up. Storm was eight and when Gray started to lift him up he immediately moved to his shoulders. Gray chuckled as he watched Storm try to nestle himself safely on his shoulders while holding onto his head.

Juvia turned around and watched the actions of Gray and Storm. If she hadn't known better she might have thought that Storm was his son.

Gray walked over to Juvia and Storm looked at her with curiosity. "Storm, this is Juvia. Juvia, this is Storm." Gray said.

Juvia smiled at Storm and waved slightly. "Hi Storm." The young boy waved at Juvia.

"Hi." The boy looked at Juvia, still slightly confused. "Why do you have one of Gray's coats?"

Juvia looked down as she remembered that she was in fact wearing one of Gray's coats.

"She was cold so I let her use one of my coats." Gray said as he smiled at Juvia.

"Why didn't she wear her own coat?" Storm seemed to be full of questions now.

"She didn't have her coat and she was at my house in Magnolia so I gave her one of mine. Are you done interrogating Juvia about my coat?" Gray joked as he hopped a little to readjust Storm on his shoulders.

"One more question," Storm pointed right at Juvia. "Why are you here?"

"Uh... Juvia is here because um..." Juvia didn't really know why. She just wanted to come because she felt like it.

"Juvia's here because she's special to me, so I brought her to take a look at the village." Juvia mouthed 'thank you' to Gray, who smiled and winked.

"What do you mean she's special to you?" Storm was getting suspicious of Gray and Juvia.

"You said one more question, so you're out of questions!" Gray said as he smirked.

"No fair!" Storm pouted and looked out into the village.

"Cmon Storm, cheer up!" Gray cheered as he pushed Storm off of his shoulders and into a pile of snow. Gray laughed as he saw Storm poke his head out from the pile of snow.

As Storm grinned widely he raised his arm up and threw a snowball at Gray's face. The snowball hit Gray's face, dead center. "Oh you're getting it now, Storm!" Gray said as he made a snowball and threw it at Storm.

As the snowball fight continued Juvia couldn't help but laugh at Gray and Storm as they acted almost like father and son. Then a snowball came straight at Juvia's face. It hit her before she could even register what was happening.

"Storm!" Gray yelled out as he watched Juvia wipe the snowball off her face.

"Sorry, it was an accident!" Storm said, trying to plea his innocence.

"You're in some real trouble-" gray was about to scold Storm when a snowball hit him in the back of the head. "Eh!"

Storm laughed as Gray turned around to see Juvia tossing a snowball up and down. "Juvia..."

"Yes, Gray-sama?" Juvia gave an innocent look to Gray as she stopped tossing her snowball.

"I am gonna getting you!" Gray said with a smirk on his face as he picked up a handful of snow and chased after Juvia.

Juvia's first instinct was to run, so she did. Gray was much faster though and easily caught up to Juvia. But instead of throwing his snowball at her he dropped it. Juvia was confused when she looked back to see that Gray had tossed his snowball aside. As she looked back at Gray she was suddenly pinned to the ground with a heavy weight on her. The impact of hitting the ground didn't hurt though as she landed into a rather large pile of snow.

"Gray-sama!" Juvia said in surprise as She rolled onto her side. Gray just smiled and pulled Juvia closer to him. He then gave Juvia a quick kiss before standing up. Juvia blushed at Gray's forwardness in such a public place.

"Cmon, get out of the snow." Gray said as he offered Juvia a hand.

"Gray-sama is the one who put Juvia in the snow, so Gray-sama must take Juvia out of the snow too." Juvia said with a mischievous look on her face.

Gray sighed and smiled. "Alright then!" Gray picked Juvia up, bridal style, from the snow. There were several other people who were out and about and they were all looking at the pair.

"Gray-sama can out Juvua down now. People are staring." Juvia said. She knew that Gray was not one for attention or to show his affection in public.

"So? Let them look, there's nothing to hide." He said as he smiled and carried Juvia back over towards where Storm was.

Storm looked at Gray and gave him a suspecting look. "So she's that kind of special person." Storm said as he looked at Juvia.

Juvia blushed when Storm said it, but Gray seemed unfazed. "So what if she is?" He asked.

"Well is she gong to live with us?" Storm asked, trying to get out as much information as he could.

"About that Storm..." Gray put Juvia down and walked over to Storm and knelt down in front of him. "I was thinking that we'd move to Magnolia, where I used to live."

Storm's brows furrowed as he looked at Gray. "Why would we do that?" Storm saw no logical reason to move somewhere else.

"Well I have friends in Magnolia and I've been away for a very long time. Plus that's where my guild is." Gray pointed to the Fairy Tail mark on his now bear chest. Somehow he lost his shirt in the last minute.

"But what about our training, it won't be as cold down there." Storm started grabbing at reasons to stay, reasons to live the same comfortable life.

"You don't actually need to be exposed to the cold anymore for our training. And anyways, it's the beginning of winter right now in Magnolia." Gray reached for Storm's arm as he tried to comfort him.

"But... But..." Storm struggled to find anything against moving. "Is this because of her?" Storm asked as he pointed to Juvia.

Juvia flinched when he asked and just stared at Gray. "That's part of it, but it's also benefits us in many ways."

"Like what?" Storm asked.

"Well for one you could join Fairy Tail, it's like a huge family to be honest. And there's other kids at Fairy Tail that you can play with. And..." Gray looked at Juvia for a second before looking back at Storm. "It'd make me happy. So will you do it buddy, for me?"

Storm stared at Fray for a while before looking away. "Alright," Gray sighed in relief and smiled widely. "But I get to fight you!"

"I'm not going to fight you!" Gray said as he pushed Storm teasingly. He chuckled as he watched Storm stumble before gaining his balance. "Will you just do it for me, please?"

Storm looked at Gray carefully and asked, "This is really important to you, isn't it?" Gray smiled and nodded to Storm. "Alright fine." Storm said as Gray hugged him tightly.

"Thank you." Gray whispered as he pulled away from Storm. Storm just rolled his eyes and smiled.

Gray turned to Juvia and smiled. "Are you ok with heading back to Magnolia after dinner? Because I was kinda hoping that when we came to Magnolia we would walk into Fairy Tail and surprise everyone."

"If it's part of Gray-sama's plan then Juvia will gladly do such." Juvia smiled and hugged Gray, taking in everything she could of him.

"Wait for me at the booth in front of the guild doors." Gray said quietly into Juvia's hair. Gray too took in as much of Juvia as he could in that moment. Storm just stood there awkwardly, trying to decide whether he should say something or just wait. But he ended up not needed to make a choice as Gray and Juvia separated from their hug.


	3. The Truth

**Chapter Three: The Truth**

Juvia sat at the booth right in front of the guild doors the next day. She waited patiently all morning and ended up with Natsu and Lucy sitting next to her. It was no surprise that Natsu and Lucy ended up being a couple, but it was relieving to finally see them together.

Lucy was talking about going out to eat for that evening. Natsu and Lucy say there deciding which place to take their little gang. Then the guild doors opened and Juvia instantly stared right at it. Most of the guild was confused as to why someone was entering the guildhall since everyone was either there or just left for a mission. As Juvua started to see the silhouette of a man and a young boy she instantly stood up.

"Juvia?" Lucy asked, confused why she was suddenly standing up and staring at the open guild doors. Lucy and Natsu looked back at the guild doors. Right as they did a raven haired man stepped into the guild.

The guild was filled with gasps and whispers for a while before Juvia walked up to the man. "Does Gray-sama think everyone will recognize him? Or does he-" Juvia was cut off by Gray's lips being planted onto her own. Juvia embraced the loss as she wrapped her arms around Gray's neck, and Gray wrapped his around her waist.

As Gray pulled out of the kiss he hugged Juvia. "Maybe that'll help them think." He said into her hair.

"Did Gray-sama do that for the guild or for Gray-sama?" Juvia asked into Gray's neck.

Gray stepped back from their hug and looked at Juvia. "I might have done that for my own reasons." He smirked and held Juvia's hand as he was about to walk towards the bar but was suddenly crowded with people.

"Woah Gray, is that really you!"

"Where have you been this whole time!"

Gray had about a million questions hurled at him but one stood out the most.

"Hey Icicle Brain, why the heck did it take you so long!" An angry pink man demanded as he charged up to Gray.

"Oh hey Natsu-" Gray was interrupted by a fist landing in his gut. The lunch didn't do that much damage, it got him off guard though, that's for sure. Gray's abdomen curved in a little when Natsu punched him, but before he could retaliate someone else already was.

"Hey, don't hurt him!" Storm yelled as he stomped on Natsu's foot and punched Natsu.

Natsu was super confused and looked at Gray. "Who is this?"

There were a few whispers in the crowd as people were thinking that it might be Gray's child.

"This is Storm." Gray said as he pulled Storm away from Natsu. Storm gave them all a look that Gray would have made if he were upset or disgruntled.

After a bit of silence, besides the whispers, Lucy finally spoke up. "Is he yours?"

Gray looked down at Storm and smile before turning back to the Lucy and the crowd. "Not exactly, he's my student. But he lost his parents a while back so I'm acting as his guardian."

All of the girls in the guild were already swarming Storm and crouched down to talk to him. Mira was one of the first people to talk to Storm. "How old are you?" Storm just stared back at all of the women and he looked like a gazelle in the middle of a bunch of cheetahs.

"Where are you from?"

"Do you use magic?"

"What kind of magic do you use?"

"Is Gray a good guardian?"

Storm slowly backed up to find that Gray was not behind him as he thought, but Juvia was instead. Instinctively Storm hid behind Juvia and tightly held onto her dress.

Juvia crouched down and hugged Storm. "It's ok Storm, they just want to know you better." Storm nodded his head and let go of Juvia's dress.

Juvia stood back up and Stprm grabbed her hand. Juvia was surprised at first but then she walked back to the booth she was sitting in before. Gray saw both of them move and sat down with them.

"Sorry about all of this buddy, I'll try to talk to them about it." Gray ruffled Storm's hair as he turns to the rest of the guild and glared at them.

Lucy and Natsu sat down across from the trio and smiled at Storm. "Hi, I'm Lucy." Lucy said as she nudged Natsu.

"Eh! Hey, I'm Natsu." Natsu said as he kicked Lucy lightly under the table.

"Natsu..." Lucy warned as she lightly punched him with her left hand. Gray stopped to notice that Lucy had a shining diamond ring on her left hand.

"Woah, Lucy you're engaged?" Gray asked in disbelief. He had been gone for three years but he felt like he had never left.

"Yeah, I got engaged six months ago." Lucy smiled and her eyes softened as she held Natsu's hand.

"Nice one Natsu." Gray teased as he smirked at his old best friend.

"I could say the same to you." Natsu looked over at Juvia and then back at Gray.

Gray smiled and held Juvia's hand. "Yeah, I'd say I'm the luckiest guy in the world right now." Gray gave Juvia a light kiss and then ruffled Storm's hair again.

Both Juvia and Storm blushed a little at Gray's actions. "You guys are so cute!" Lucy said as she admired the trio.

Natsu had just been staring at Storm the whole conversation. "Are you sure that kid isn't yours?" Natsu asked as he looked from Storm to Gray and then back to Storm.

Storm looked up to Gray and Gray gave him a weird look, at least the others thought it was weird. "Of course I'm sure. He's eight so I would have been here when he was born."

"That doesn't mean he couldn't be yours..." Natsu said as looked at Gray.

Gray kind of glared at Natsu before he spoke. "What are you implying?"

"Well isn't it kinda weird that you've never had a girlfriend for your whole life." Natsu said as he emphasized on 'never'.

"Who ever said that?" Juvia asked before she could stop herself. Gray have her a look of worry when she asked.

"Well we would have noticed if he had one. Unless they were on a very long trip for a while. Like that one 'mission' Gray was on eight years ago. What were you doing on that mission exactly?" Natsu accused.

"That doesn't make sense Natsu, Juvia went on that trip with him." Lucy said and everyone say there in silence for a moment. Lucy's eyes widened and she pointed at Gray and then Juvia.

"Checkmate." Natsu smirked smugly and slouched back in his seat.

Gray and Juvia both blushed and tried to avoid each other's gaze and Natsu and Lucy's gaze. "Storm why don't you go play with Asuka and Mira." Gray said at he pointed to the said people. Storm got out of his seat and ran over to Mira and Asuka.

"That doesn't prove anything." Gray said as he looked back at Natsu.

"But after that Juvia was constantly either sick or on vacation." Natsu said.

"That's right!" Lucy said. "And Gray was taking double the normal amount of missions."

Juvia just stared down into her lap. She couldn't bare to look up, not at Natsu or Lucy and especially not Gray.

"But I never thought that you guys would do something like that without getting married." Natsu admitted, he thought it was so out of character for both of them.

Gray reached into his pocket and pulled out a golden ring and placed it on the table. Juvia looked up and saw the ring and figured that she was supped to pull out her ring. Juvia reached into her bag and pulled out a beautiful diamond ring. It gave Lucy's ring a run for its money.

"Why didn't you tell anyone!" Lucy exclaimed. She was confused and kind of upset that she never got invited to their wedding.

"We didn't want to say anything because the day we got eloped we were super drunk. It wasn't our plan to get eloped or for Juvia to get..." Gray paused and lowered his voice. "Pregnant."

"Wait, so are you guys still married?" Lucy asked. It'd be weird for them to have been married this whole time and not have even tried to be in a relationship.

"Well Gray-sama and Juvia agreed to get divorced since they were too drunk to think straight." Juvia said as she fiddled around with the expensive ring.

"You guys both agreed to get divorced?" Natsu asked, not seeing how that would happen.

"Since Gray-sama didn't want to get married and didn't share Juvia's feelings Juvia agreed to get divorced." Juvia said as she continued to play with her ring.

"I'm sure that's the reason..." Natsu stared at Gray, who was fidgeting in his seat and looked rather nervous.

"What does Natsu-San mean?" Juvia asked, raising a brow at Natsu's comment.

Gray looked up and Natsu and had a pleading look in his eyes. Natsu just smirked and turned to face Juvia. "I would beg to differ about Gray's feelings back then."

Gray just put his face in his hands as his face started to go red. Juvia paid no attention to it though and continued to discus with Natsu. "What does Natsu-San mean?"

Natsu smirked. "Around that time Gray had developed a crush on someone, and not just a little crush, he was full out crushing on them." Natsu looked at Juvia with a hinting expression.

Juvia didn't get it at first but when she did she faced Gray and had a confused look on her face. "So Gray-sama lied about his feelings after they got married?"

Gray still had his face in his hands. "Maybe..." He mumbled.

"Gray-sama..." Juvia said in an accusing tone as to make him tell the truth. He hated it when she did that because it always worked.

Gray pulled his face out of his hands and took a deep breath. "Yes..." Juvia gasped in hurt and disbelief. "But I thought it was just a crush, I didn't think that I was ready for any commitment!" Gray pleaded his defense as he held onto Juvia's hand.

Juvia just sat there in silence as she thought over everything. She didn't expect Gray to say anything but he kept talking. "I didn't know I was in love with you until I didn't have you anymore. Taking all those missions without you was killing me and the reason I kept going was because I knew I'd come back to see you and that I had to support both of us."

Juvia's eyes widened and finally spoke. "Gray-sama loves Juvia?" Gray's eyes also widened when he realized his mistake, his slip up.

"Aw snap Gray..." Natsu teased.

"I uh..." Gray didn't see any point in lying anymore. "Yeah, I love you." Gray's hold on Juvia's hand tightened when he said it.

Juvia shrieked quietly and was full of delight. "Juvia loves Gray-sama too!" Juvia said as she practically jumped on him.

"Eh!" Gray almost forgot how forward Juvia was about being affectionate towards him. He wasn't expecting Juvia to kiss him though. He was 27 now and he couldn't help but feel relieve that he could let all of that off his chest.

"Yeah, yeah, get a room." Natsu teased as he looked away from them. Gray and Juvia both blushed as they sat back up.

"But what about Storm, what happened after he was born?" Lucy asked, still confused on what was going on with that situation.

"Juvia and Gray-sama gave him to a foster home, Gray-sama said that they were a lovely family and that he took care of everything." Juvia said as she looked over at Storm, who was running around with Asuka and Mira.

"Yeah, I uh... took care of that situation." Gray said hesitantly as Natsu gave him a weird look. Natsu was suspicious of Gray. He knew him almost his whole life and something seemed off.

"What was the family's name?" Natsu asked as he squinted his eyes at Gray.

"Uh they were the..." Gray glared at Natsu before acting like he was trying to recall something. "The Fullstoms." Gray finally managed to say.

"That name sounds pretty weird. Sounds a bit like Fullbuster." Natsu said accusingly as Gray glared at Natsu. "And if I recall, you were still taking lots of 'jobs' and vacations after Juvia was back to normal."

"What are you getting at..." Gray said through gritted teeth. He hated the fact that Natsu could see right through him. Gray didn't even notice that Juvia was staring at Gray with a concerned look on her face.

"Well if I didn't know better if say that-" Natsu had a smug look on his face as Lucy practically jumped out of her seat and cut him off.

"You kept Storm!" Lucy almost shouted out. Juvia was in shock and confusion as Natsu started to fight with Lucy about interrupting him.

Gray tried to avoid looking at Juvia, but he had to look. When he did Juvia's brows were furrowed and she looked almost hurt. "Gray-sama kept Storm and raise him by himself?"

Gray bit his lip as he debated what to say. "Yes, but I couldn't give him up."

"Does Gray-sama know how hard it was for Juvia to give up their baby?" Juvia was hurt and she couldn't believe what Gray had done.

"You don't get it, when I was going to visit the foster family he held my finger. When his little hand gripped mine, I lost it. I couldn't think of giving him up. I already gave you up and that was the biggest regret of my life." Gray's eyes glossed over as he tried to hold back tears. "He was all I had left, you have to understand that."

"And does Gray-sama understand that Juvia had nothing? Juvia didn't have Gray-sama, her baby, nothing." Gray froze as the realization hit him. How could he have been so stupid as to have not realized that.

"Listen Juvia I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking clearly." Gray said as he went to grab Juvia's hand, but Juvua pulled her hand away. She stood up and walked away. "Juvia!" Gray called out. Juvia kept walking, she couldn't bare to look back. "Juvia!" Gray called again as he stood up and followed after her.

Juvia turned around the corner of the outside of the guild right before Gray grabbed her shoulder. "Juvia, please-"

"What Gray!" Juvia said as she turned around, her faces covered in tears. Gray's heart shattered a little knowing that he had made Juvia cry.

"I... I'm sorry." Gray stared at the ground before looking at Juvia. "And you have every reason to hate me right now, but I'll spend the rest of my life making it up to you. Please, I love you, I can't lose you again..." Gray closed his eyes and tears started to stream down his face as the thought of Juvia leaving him ran through his head.

"Juvia is sorry, but Juvia needs time alone. Juvia thinks that Gray-sama needs sometime to think about everything also. If Gray-sama cannot promise to commit fully then Juvia doesn't want to bother with it." Juvia said as she shrugged Gray's hand off of her shoulder. She walked away from Gray, leaving him there by himself.

Gray collapsed to his knees as he continued to cry. "Why am I such an idiot..." He couldn't bare the thought of losing Juvia again. Just when things seemed like they couldn't be any worse it started to rain, heavily.

"You think they're gonna be ok?" Natsu asked Lucy. It was twenty minutes after Gray and Juvia had left the guild and they hadn't heard anything.

"They have to, it's Gray and Juvia." Lucy reassured Natsu. The truth though was that she was also reassuring herself.

A soaked Gray walked back into the guild. His eyes were blank and his shoulders were slumped over. For once Gray had all of his clothes on and as he walked past Natsu and Lucy Natsu spoke up. "Listen Gray-"

"Shut it Natsu." Gray said bitterly as he kept walking. Natsu got up and grabbed Gray by the shoulder, turning him around.

"Gray, everything is going to be fine. I'm sure-" Natsu was trying to reassure Gray but he cut him off again.

"Yeah everything is going to be great now that the love of my life hates me, no thanks to you." Gray just looked away from Natsu as he spoke.

"Hey, it's not my fault that you decided to lie to her for the last eight years!" Natsu's tone started to escalate.

"Natsu, don't." Lucy said but Natsu was done with it.

"No, he needs to hear it." Natsu looked right at Gray. "If you had just gotten over your commitment issues and talked with Juvia you wouldn't be in this mess. If you had-"

"Shut up..." Gray said quietly.

"Excuse me?" Natsu raised a brow at Gray.

"I said shut up!" Gray looked right back at Natsu. "Do you know what I've been through in the last couple of years? Do you know what it's like to lose the person who's closest to you? Do you know how hard it is to act like everything is fine, even though you feel like there's nothing left in the world?"

"Yeah I do know what that's like, I lost Igneel. He was my whole world..." Natsu said as he started to look slightly depressed thinking about it.

"Yeah well you should try being me. I lost my dad and my mom, they were my whole world. Then I lost Ur, she was everything I saw as good in the world after I was blinded by revenge. And now I've lost Juvia, for the second time. I've lost the sunshine in my dark, cold, endless space." Gray's eyes started to tear up. "So try knowing what that's like. It's the worst, it feels like someone's ripped out my heart and then slowly started to rip apart everything dear to me, right in front of my eyes."

Natsu didn't know what to say, he never thought about it like that. He was introduced to a new side of Gray that he never showed before. Gray was never one to be very expressive or open to anyone, but something in him broke. "Now if you don't mind I'm going to go get my son."

Gray walked over to Storm and picked him up. "Where are we going Gray?" Storm asked as he looked up at Gray.

"You don't have to call me Gray anymore Storm. You can call me dad again." Gray said as he walked out of Fairy Tail and held his son close.


End file.
